Tri-county commission moves toward an organic waste goal

St. Cloud-area counties plan to set a goal for recycling organic material such as food waste now that Central Minnesota soon will have two sites that can compost it.

The Tri-County Solid Waste Management Commission, which sets waste policy for Stearns, Benton and the western half of Sherburne counties, agreed Thursday to move toward setting a goal to recycle a portion of all the garbage generated, likely between 5-10 percent, at organic composting sites.

Organic waste makes up 19-24 percent of the tri-county area’s garbage, so a 5 percent recycling goal would be a small but symbolic step.

The county commissioners who make up the joint commission hope setting a target will help grow the fledgling composting industry as well as reduce the amount of valuable organic matter sent to landfills or incinerated.

“I think it would send a message to both the private sector and the creators of the waste that we’re headed down this direction, and they should all get on board because it’s the right thing to do for the right reason,” Benton County Commissioner Jake Bauerly said after Thursday’s meeting.

The St. Cloud area has goals for conventional recycling such as plastic and paper but not for compostable organics such as food waste, paper towels and food containers.

A recent garbage study by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency found that the portion of organics in the waste stream has grown to 31 percent from 26 percent in 2000. The agency estimates more than 519,000 tons of food waste generated each year could be composted.

Bauerly said it’s frustrating to farmers like him that as much as 40 percent of the food produced in the United States ends up in the trash. Meanwhile, farmers are in need of nutrient-rich compost for their soil, he said.

“Get it back out into the fields where it has some value rather than in a garbage dump where it’s a negative,” Bauerly said.

Previously, only a few locations in Minnesota could accept food waste, but that is changing. The MPCA is altering its rules to encourage more public and private drop-off sites and curbside collection of organics.

Tri-County Organics, a yard waste compost site on the east side of St. Cloud, received a permit late last year to accept up to 20 tons a week of organic waste. The end result is a nutrient-rich product that can be sold to farmers, gardeners and landscape companies.

Tri-County is one of two privately owned organics compost sites in Central Minnesota, and among a rising number of such facilities across Minnesota and the United States.

A much larger operated by Full Circle Organics is close to opening at the Vonco II landfill near Becker.

The seven-county Twin Cities metro area is considering a more ambitious goal of 9-15 percent for organics recycling, said Doug Lien, interim coordinator of the tri-county commission. The tri-county is likely to set a more conservative target, perhaps as low as 5 percent.

“We know about how much organics is in the waste stream, but how much we can capture is the question,” Lien said.

The industry is still working out how to transport organic material to the compost sites. Currently, most sites require that waste be dropped off or offer some limited pickup service.

Site owners hope that demand from large customers such as hospitals and schools will spur garbage haulers to start offering collection of organic waste.

Lien has been working with area schools to increase recycling of organics. Pilot programs are underway at Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph and Lincoln Elementary in St. Cloud.

Follow Kirsti Marohn on Twitter @kirstimarohn.

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